Herzog: Israel did not rise from the ashes of the Holocaust to be consumed by infighting

Israel did not rise from the ashes of the Holocaust only to be consumed by the fire of discord, President Isaac Herzog says in his address at the official state ceremony at Yad Vashem for Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Issuing a call for unity and warning against internal divisions and rising global antisemitism, Herzog weaves his address around the story of Holocaust survivor Magda Baratz and her great-grandson, soldier Staff Sgt. Assaf Kafri.

Kafri was killed in combat in Gaza last year, and Baratz received news of her great-grandson’s death while at the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she had once suffered during the Holocaust. She died shortly afterward.

“Exactly 70 years separated them,” Herzog says, “but one spirit bound the generations — a spirit of heroism, of dedication, of determination; a spirit of fighting for the only home of our people — the State of Israel. ”

Highlighting Israel’s ongoing military operations, Herzog warns of continued threats from Iran and allied groups targeting civilians. He calls on world leaders to move beyond rhetoric to take decisive action against antisemitism.

Israel will continue preserving Holocaust memory for future generations, even after the last survivors are gone, he concludes.